7. Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein was born on April 28, 1937, in Al-ʿAwjah, Iraq, to a Sunni Arab family. His father, Hussein Abd al-Majid, was from the Al-Majid branch of the Al-Bejat clan, while his mother Subha Tulfah al-Mussalat was granddaughter of Mussallat bin Omar Al-Nasiri, a tribal leader of the Al-Bu Nasir tribe and an opponent of the Ottoman rule in Iraq. Saddam’s name means “the fighter who stands steadfast”. His father died before his birth. This made Saddam’s mother, Subha, so depressed that she unsuccessfully attempted to abort her pregnancy and commit suicide. Saddam’s mother did not want anything to do with him, and Saddam was eventually taken in by an uncle. His stepfather, Ibrahim al-Hassan, treated Saddam harshly after his return, and (according to a psychological profile created by the CIA) beat him regularly, sometimes to wake him up.
